Seventeen Moves, and a New Queen

The game, move by move

A Nimzo-Larsen Attack

1. 1. b3 b3 — Larsen’s own opening A pawn to b3 and a bishop to b2, and White gives up the centre entirely on the first move. Larsen played it against everybody and it is named after him.
2. 1… e5 e5, taking what is offered
3. 2. Bb2 The bishop to b2
4. 2… Nc6 The knight out
5. 3. c4 c4
6. 3… Nf6 The second knight
7. 4. Nf3 The knight to f3, at the pawn
8. 4… e4 e4 — the pawn goes past On move four Black has a pawn on e4 and White has nothing in the middle at all. Everything after this is Black rolling pawns.
9. 5. Nd4 The knight to d4
10. 5… Bc5 Bc5, at it
11. 6. Nxc6 The knights come off
12. 6… dxc6 Recaptured with the d-pawn

Both kings on the wings

1. 7. e3 e3
2. 7… Bf5 Bf5
3. 8. Qc2 The queen to c2
4. 8… Qe7 The queen to e7
5. 9. Be2 Be2
6. 9… O-O-O Black castles long Onto the queenside, which puts three pieces and a king a long way from the file the game is decided on.
7. 10. f4 f4, at the pawn chain
8. 10… Ng4 Ng4 — the knight offered It goes to g4 where a pawn can take it, and the point is what taking it does to White’s own pawns: hxg4 has to be answered by hxg3, and then the g-file is Black’s.

The h-pawn arrives

1. 11. g3 g3, holding f4
2. 11… h5 h5, coming down
3. 12. h3 h3, at the knight
4. 12… h4 h4 — the pawn keeps coming Both of Black’s kingside pawns are on the fourth rank and his knight is still on g4 being ignored.
5. 13. hxg4 The knight, taken at last
6. 13… hxg3 And the pawn takes on g3 A black pawn on g3, two squares from White’s first rank, and there is nothing in front of it but a rook that has not moved.
7. 14. Rg1 Rg1, holding the file
8. 14… Rh1 Rh1 — the rook offered On a square the rook on g1 covers. Larsen has to take it: leaving it there loses the rook and the g-pawn goes through anyway.

A pawn to g2, and a queen

1. 15. Rxh1 He takes it
2. 15… g2 g2 — and there is nothing in front of it The pawn reaches the second rank. It attacks the rook on h1, and whatever the rook does, the pawn takes something and becomes a queen.
3. 16. Rf1 The rook steps to f1
4. 16… Qh4+ Check from h4 — first The queen checks before the pawn promotes, so that the king is on d1 rather than e1 and cannot take the new queen.
5. 17. Kd1 Kd1 — the only square
6. 17… gxf1=Q+ gxf1=Q+ — and White resigned The pawn takes the rook and becomes a queen, with check, on move seventeen. There is exactly ONE legal move in the position. Larsen was arguably the second-best player in the world and he did not make it.